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2013-01-28

I love salad and I love Spring and I love California and all of that comes together in this dish--a salad that reminds me of Spring in California when all the wildflowers are in bloom—like this
scene from A Taste of Honey (Oberon, book 4):

“It was a glorious
Spring day. The air along the coast was
warm and lushly scented with yerba buena, eucalyptus and sage. Fat, majestic puffs sailed across the sky,
casting cloud-shaped shadows onto the earth and sea below, further mottling the
already variegated landscape. When she
turned off the coast road onto the canyon drive that led to the nursery, she
saw that the hills that lined the way,
gray-green, emerald, and gold for most of the year, had been transformed. They’d blossomed overnight into an almost
endless expanse of orange and
blue--mostly California poppies and lupine--disrupted only where the spiky
silver foliage and dried flower heads of wild artichokes broke through to tower
above them.”

Clean, peel and
chop beets and potatoes into bite-sized pieces. Toss with 3 Tbsp olive oil,
herbs and seasonings to coat then arrange in a single layer on a baking sheet
and bake for 30 minutes.

Remove pan from
oven and stir contents. Add walnuts and drizzle honey over beets, potatoes and
walnuts. Return to oven for another 10 to 15 minutes, or until beets and
potatoes are tender and slightly caramelized.

Remove from oven
and allow to cool slightly.

While beets and
potatoes are cooking, Cook bacon until crisp. Set aside to cool and then
crumble.

As I write this post, the new year is only a few minutes old. My daughter and I have just concluded our traditional ringing-in of the new year, which includes writing down our wishes and goals for the new year and--at midnight--burning the paper on which they were written to send our wishes out into the universe. Then we stood outside, watching the fireworks, while drinking sparkling pink moscato. This year we added a new twist by drinking our wine out of snowman mugs. We'll see if that one sticks. Earlier, I made my traditional New Year's Day dessert (and breakfast--what can I say?) Meyer lemon chess pie and my daughter, who spent part of the summer in Portugal made pastel de nata. As you might imagine, we're big on New Year's traditions, which (as I've mentioned several times this month--sorry, I mean LAST month!) is something I share with the characters of my newest release, Finders Keepers, even though the book is set several decades in the future. To me, it makes sense that people in my fast-changing future world would seek to hang on to whatever traditions would help them feel grounded and secure--especially on a holiday that emphasizes newness. So, on this beautiful new day (and according to the weather forecast, it will be very beautiful) I wish you all a very happy new year, wishes fulfilled, and a future that's brighter than you can imagine.

Sometimes finding what you want is the easy part.

Caleb is a bionic soldier with little-to-no memory of his past. He's seeking the truth about himself and those missing memories.

Aldo's an undercover cop who just might have the answers to Caleb's questions. But if Caleb's the man Aldo thinks he is, how can he let him get away a second time?

Then there's Sally; she's an ER physician who used to be married to Aldo's late partner, Davis. Sally's not dealing with widowhood very well. In fact, it's getting harder, every day, just to find a reason to keep getting out of bed. If the truth about the men's shared past comes to light, she could lose them both. Along with her last, best reason to go on living.

This holiday season, chance will bring them together and give them an opportunity to help one another find what they each want most. But every gift comes with a price. And keeping what they've found once they've found it? Yeah, that's gonna be the hard part.